"It's a basic truth of the human condition that everybody lies. The only variable is about what. The weird thing about telling someone they're dying is it tends to focus their priorities. You find out what matters to them. What they're willing to die for. What they're willing to lie for." -- Dr. Gregory House

6.13.2005

Yet another blog post about The Verdict

Once upon a time, on another blog elsewhere, I made a post on the day that Michael Jackson was arrested. At the time, I said that obviously I don't know what happened, but it was really hard to look at a man who admits to sleeping with children and who'd already paid off other accusers and believe that he didn't do it. I still say that, to an extent. The trial brought out even more of the Wacko Jacko stuff, and I know waaaay too much about his choice in porn. But I did learn an important lesson - that no matter how screwed up a person seems to be, there's always someone more screwed up to make them look good in comparison. And that, to me, exemplifies the Michael Jackson trial.

Was I shocked by the verdict? Yes and no. I dodn't see him being convicted on the highest molestation charges, just simply because the alleged victim and his family just didn't present convincing evidence. When you have a mother who's already proven to use her children to scam a company out of money, how can you believe that they're not doing it again? The kids' inconsistant stories, the mom's wacked-out testimony...it's hard to convict someone else when your victim and witnesses seem to be the ones on trial at times. And Debbie Rowe pretty much blew the conspiracy charges outta the water, even if I personally thought she was full of crap when she did it. The one thing I was surprised on was the lesser alcohol charges. When you have person after person taking the stand, talking about the Coke cans with wine, it's hard not to believe the "Jesus juice" testimony.

The thing that gets me about the verdict (and I guess here some would say that I'm offering some fake sort of compassion, but believe it or not, I do mean it) is that everyone's crowing about a victory here. There were no victors in this trial. If it's the worst-case scenario, a pedophile got off scot-free and was pretty much given free rein to share beds with boys and serve Jesus Juice till kingdom come, while a young boy basically lives the rest of the life with what happened to him, knowing that the justice system failed him. But that pedophile would also have to live with the knowledge of what he's done, and with the knowledge that over half of polled U.S. residents think that he's guilty. As obsessed as Michael is with his image, the knowledge that most Americans think he's guilty as sin and that he deserves that will eat him alive. And I would also say that his supply of possible future victims has dried up. Being alone with a guilty conscience is not a great place to be.

But even in the best-case scenario for Michael, this is not something he's going to recover from quickly. He's spent almost two years with the world press picking apart his life, and it was definitely a TMI situation. Now he probably faces some sort of civil action, and he's already broke. I'd say that most likely he'll be reduced to a Las Vegas casino act for a long time. But most of all, he's lost something that was very important in him - trust. He said in an interview that he didn't trust adults, but children had never let him down. And losing that kind of faith and belief in people is worse than losing all the money in the world. As for the kid, he's still a victim - of a maniulative mother, a vindictive prosecutor, and media who will forever chronicle every misstep in his life. It's hard to believe that this boy randomly decided to pipe up one day and call a person who had been so nice to him a molester. There's a lot going on behind this, and none of it is a good life lesson for a young child who's already fought for his life in the past.

In any case, the verdict is in, and after awhile another celebrity screwup will become the media's darling and the late-night punchline. But I do hope that people learn more from this trial than what weird markings are on a singer's private parts. I hope that it doesn't discourage some young kids watching this trial from afar from reporting the terrible things that have happened to them. And I hope that us adults begin to look at the prosecution of sexual exploitation charges as less of a means to be vindictive and "nail" someone in a salacious way, but as more of a way to possibly save countless others from the same fate.

Maybe he doesn't think he did anything wrong, but if he has half of the love for kids that he's said to have (and no, not the kinky stuff), he would know what he did has drastically changed this boy's life. I would hope that would matter to him. But maybe it won't - from all indications, few pedophiles seem to be very concerned about the results of their actions after the fact. I guess I'd just like to think the best of people and their reactions until my naivete smacks me in the face.